Anja Van Herle “Mellow Yellow”

Born in Belgium in 1969, Anja Van Herle combines a European sense of high
fashion in her artwork with an American sense of wonder. Her childhood years were
devoted to exploring the fundamentals of her art using crayons, pencils and
watercolors. In 1987, she enrolled in Belgium’s Higher Institute for Art Education
where she earned a Master’s of Fine Arts in Painting. In 2003, Anja relocated to Los
Angeles, where she now concentrates on figurative paintings that are inspired by
both classic and contemporary fashion while exploring issues of identity, emotion
and human interrelationships. As timelessly chic as Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at
Tiffany’s, Anja’s women are playfully sexy, and their expressions and eyes tell
stories that go far beyond the simple exhibition of fine fashion. In Anja’s masterful
hands, fashion becomes alive. “These women—they feel.”

“My work is an attempt to capture the complexity of emotions that are
conveyed in the human face. I’ve been painting portraits since I was a child,
continually drawing closer to the face and eyes in order to explore the emotions
they contain. There’s a story behind every face; my paintings are an attempt to tell
these stories by capturing delicate facial expressions and juxtaposing them with
vibrant color and the dramatic interplay of shadow and light that both inform my
subjects and maintain their enigmatic aura. I’m constantly delighted by the various
interpretations my work receives. For some, a subject may be pensive, while to
others it may be seductive or confrontational. Part of the viewing experience is for a
viewer to attach his or her own emotional meaning to a work.”